State of Sabotage

Robert Jelinek

On 30 August 2013, exactly ten years after its foundation, the State of Sabotage (SoS) was dissolved. The state had five provinces, 15 embassies and consulates, over 14,000 citizens, its own constitution, passports, currency and over 20 versions of its anthem.

SoS was committed to civil values in the best sense, such as education, culture, and fundamental human rights. It crossed the lines between state sovereignty and went beyond them using artistic means. Four years have passed since then and despite the temporal distance, enquiries and requests haven’t ceased pouring in. The world is in transformation and poses new challenges which continue to render the brief existence of the State of Sabotage utterly relevant to the present, whether because of its migration policies, its approach to physical territory and legal gray areas, or its critique of the claims to perpetuity of state forms.